56^'  ~~  K ow,  p S.v,,  A. 


r* 


Mouayian  Missions. 


1732-1882. 


Jubilee  Address 


BY 


THE  REV.  A.  C.  THOMPSON,  D.D., 


OF  BOSTON,  MASS., 


DBL1VRRF.D  AT  BETHLEHEM,  PA  , ON  THE  OCCASION  OP 


The  150th  Anniversary  of  the  Foreign  Missions 
ofthe  Moravian  Church, 


AUGUST  21,  1882. 


BETHLEHEM: 

MORAVIAN  PUBLICATION  OFFICE. 

1882. 


PRINTED  FOR 


THE  SOCIETY  OF  THE  UNITED  BRETHREN 

FOR  PROPAGATING  THE  GOSPEL  AMONG  THE  HEATHEN. 


ADDRESS. 


cj|  I'  X a suburb  of  Constance,  near  where  the  Rhine  emerges  from 
ij  I the  lake  which  bears  that  name,  stands  one  of  the  most  appro- 
priate monuments  in  Europe.  It  is  a rude,  massive  boulder 
which  has  been  placed  upon  the  spot  where,  more  than  four  and  a 
half  centuries  ago,  John  Hus  and  Jerome  of  Prague  were  burned 
at  the  stake.  Perhaps  no  incident  of  foreign  travel  ever  impressed 
me  more  than  to  find,  on  the  morning  of  an  anniversary  of  the 
martyrdom  of  Hus,  that  a Protestant  gentleman  from  Prague  in 
Bohemia,  had  climbed,  before  daybreak,  over  the  high  iron  fence 
which  encloses  the  monument,  and  with  a wreath  of  fresh  immor- 
telle.s had  crowned  the  memorial  -rock. 

John  Hus,  true-hearted,  with  a noble  simplicity  and  a conscien- 
tious firmness,  never  rendered  giddy  by  applause  nor  despondent 
by  persecution,  a reformer  before  the  Reformation,  and  a Bohemian 
Brother  before  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  supplied  an  impulse  and  a tvpe 
of  that  movement  which  issued  in  the  colony  at  Herrnhut  and  in 
the  foreign  missionary  enterprise  of  which  this  day  is  the  third 
Jubilee.  Would  that  I were  able  to  bring  a wreath  worthy  of  the 
occasion — a wreath  that  shall  harmonize  with  the  beautiful  decora- 
tions of  this  place  at  this  time  ! 

Happily  I have  to  climb  no  denominational  iron  pickets.  It  is 
at  your  kind  invitation,  friends  of  the  Society  for  Propagating  the 


4 


Gospel,  that  I appear  here.  I come  simply  as  one  who  has,  to  some 
extent,  studied  the  missions  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  but  has  nothing 
to  communicate  except  impressions,  the  impressions  of  one  from 
outside  and  at  a distance.  Least  of  all  will  anything  so  preposterous 
be  attempted  as  to  give  information  concerning  Moravian  missions, 
to  an  audience  at  this  focus  of  the  American  Province  of  the  United 
Brethren,  this  Herrnhut  of  America.  It  is  presumed  that  all 
present  are  familiar  with  the  history  of  that  evangelistic  work  as 
carried  on  for  the  last  one  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

Between  the  martyrdom  of  Hus  in  July,  1415,  and  the  present 
hour,  there. lie  two  great  eras  in  the  history  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum 
— the  one  a testimony  of  endurance  under  cruel  oppression ; the 
other  a testimony  of  signal  evangelism.  These,  however,  are  by 
no  means  disconnected  ; in  the  evident  design  of  Providence  they 
form  a coherent  whole.  The  roots  of  the  present  are  hid  deep  in 
the  past. 

One  of  two  results  usually  flows  from  severe  trial;  individuals 
or  communities  either  enfeeble  their  spiritual  life  by  pitying  them- 
selves and  by  nursing  an  expectation  of  pity  from  others ; or  else 
a self-forgetful  benevolence  is  stimulated.  Suffering  that  fails  to 
make  a man  or  a church  more  enterprising  in  the  way  of  Christian 
philanthropy,  to  ennoble  and  expand  character,  fails  of  its  chief  end. 
If  a self-indulgent  inactivity  follow,  decay  will  ensue. 

Seldom  is  any  one  called  to  notable  service  in  behalf  of  fellow- 
men  without  some  severity  of  previous  discipline. 

In  the  pit  and  in  prison  Joseph  qualifies  to  become  the  best 
governor  Egypt  ever  had.  The  oppression  of  Puritans  in  England, 
their  early  hardships  on  the  rugged  shores  of  New  England,  and 
their  subsequent  experiences  in  war,  contributed  to  that  character 
which  has  revealed  itself  in  missionary  movements  now  entering 
into  the  true  glory  of  our  age.  Embarrassments  under  which 
John  Eliot  and  others  like  him,  labored  in  the  mother  country,  and 
the  condition  of  self-exile  to  a wilderness,  made  them  all  the  more 


o 


ready  for  Christian  efforts  in  behalf  of  the  Indian.  It  was  during 
tlie  period  of  the  first  French  revolution  and  the  Napoleonic  wars 
— a period  of  wild  commotion,  of  unexampled  sacrifice  of  life,  of 
unutterable  distress  among  the  nations  of  Europe — that  most  of  the 
great  evangelistic  movements  of  modern  times  took  their  rise. 
Not  unfrequent lv  docs  the  baptism  of  fire  and  blood  seal  a conse- 
cration to  high  and  far-reaching  aims;  on  the  anvil  and  under  the 
hammer  character  grows  broad.  W as  it  not  the  divine  thought 
that  both  king  and  queen  of  the  Iberians  should  be  converted,  when 
a Christian  female  in  the  fourth  century  was  carried  away  captive 
into  Asiatic  Georgia?  Was  it  not  in  order  to  the  planting  of 
Christianity  in  Abyssinia  that  God  allowed  the  capture,  by  fierce 
natives,  of  two  Christian  youths,  one  of  whom  became  the  first 
bishop  in  that  country?  During  all  the  Moravian  experience  of 
poverty,  oppression  and  bloodshed,  He  who  seetli  the  end  from  the 
beginning,  had  in  mind  salvation  for  Eskimos  in  Arctic  regions,  for 
African  slaves  in  tropical  West  Indies,  and  for  Hottentots  in  South 
Africa. 

Something  more  than  long  harrowing  is  needful ; seed,  and  the 
right  seed  must  be  in  the  soil.  It  is  ideas  that  govern  the  world ; 
ideas  that  give  form  and  character  to  the  Church  ; and  any  church 
to  fulfill  the  aim  of  its  Adorable  Head  must  apprehend  clearly 
His  chief  thoughts  in  its  establishment. 

Quite  superfluous  would  it  be  to  pause  here  for  the  utterance  of 
such  a truism  as  that  gospel-promulgation  is  one  grand  design  of- 
the  Founder,  were  it  not  that  scarcely  had  three  centuries  gone  by 
after  our  Lord  gave  His  final  command,  before  that  idea  had  very 
much  faded  from  the  mind  of  Christendom ; and  were  it  not  that 
only  to  a limited  extent  has  it  since  been  restored.  All  along  the 
ages  the  thought  of  believers — the  very  best  of  them — has  been 
disproportionately  fastened  on  the  great  concern  of  personal  salva- 
tion ; and  to  a wide  extent  the  duty  of  evangelizing  the  heathen 
has  been  regarded  as,  at  most,  something  incidental,  exceptional, 


6 


extraneous,  instead  of  being  co-ordinate  with  the  other,  and  no  less 
imperative. 

Hence  partly  it  is  that  in  Christian  communities  there  has  been 
so  much  that  seems  narrow,  so  much  that  wears  the  aspect  of  self- 
indulgence;  hence  so  little  of  primitive  power,  and  so  much  of 
division,  decay,  torpor,  death. 

Time  was  when  a Pope  of  Rome  said  that  the  oue  thing  which 
satisfied  him  that  the  Church  of  England  lacked  the  mark  of 
catholicity  was  her  having  no  missions  among  the  heathen.  A sad 
fact  it  is  that  when  at  length  the  Church  Missionary  Society  came 
into  being  it  had  to  struggle  on  for  sixteen  years  before  winning 
the  countenance  of  a single  dignitary  of  that  venerable  body. 
Substantially  the  same  lias  been  true  in  the  experience  of  most 
Protestant  foreign  missionary  organizations  which  have  sprung  up 
within  the  last  hundred  years.  At  the  present  hour  one  of  the 
chief  needs  of  Christendom  is  education  into  the  policy  and  spirit 
of  our  divine  Master,  into  an  apprehension  of  the  chief  aim  of  His 
kingdom  in  this  world.  The  words,  the  example  of  our  Lord,  and 
the  whole  genius  of  His  special  economy  on  earth,  go  to  show  that 
expansion  was  contemplated  and  provided  for;  that  evangelization 
is  the  Church’s  business;  that  it  is  not  something  optional,  not  a 
mere  appendage,  without  which  she  is  tolerably  complete,  but  an 
integral  part  of  her  obligation  ; no  more  fitting,  no  more  urgent 
in  apostolic  times  than  to-day. 

The  Great  Teacher  dwelt  less  on  the  personal  experience  of  dis- 
ciples than  on  the  claims  and  scope  of  His  kingdom.  The 
underlying  idea  of  theological  seminaries  and  of  all  Christian 
training,  which  shall  give  type  and  tone  to  religious  character  and 
to  the  spirit  of  the  Christian  ministry,  should  be,  should  ever  have 
been  the  Pauline  “ Necessity  is  laid  upon  me,”  “ Woe  is  unto  me  if 
I preach  not  the  gospel ;”  this  sentiment  made  effective,  that  the 
missionary  spirit  is  not  a peculiar  but  a characteristic  element;  that 
going  or  helping  others  to  go  is  tin*  only  legitimate  alternative; 


that  ceasing  to  be  aggressive  the  Church  ceases  to  be  fully  Christian. 
The  conviction  must  become  deep,  pervasive  and  abiding  that  to 
prepare  one’s  self  for  eternity  is  neither  the  sole,  nor  the  chief  end 
of  probation.  No  country  will  ever  be  saved  by  an  army  that  is 
mainly  bent  on  saving  itself. 

M issions  are  the  expression  of  the  Church  regarding  the  world 
that  sitteth  in  darkness;  a test  of  loyalty  to  Messiah.  No  missions, 
little  fealty.  For  fifteen  hundred  years  there  has  l>een  a crying 
want  of  appreciation  of  the  most  patent  fact  and  feature  of  genuine 
Christianity — that  it  is  something  to  he  communicated,  not  simply 
enjoyed;  and  that  cosmopolitan  evangelism  was  contemplated  in  all 
its  provisions  and  precepts.  The  general  mind  has  by  no  means 
caught  the  burden  of  angelic  tidings  of  great  joy  that  “all  people” 
were  to  have  a share;  nor  that,  in  the  midst  of  temple  solemnities, 
the  first  herald,  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  infant  Jesus  in  his 
arms,  gave  the  exegesis  of  Heaven,  that  there  was  the  salvation 
“prepared  before  the  face  of  all  peoples.”  While  the  centuries 
have  gone  by,  a voice  has  been  sounding,  “Go  ye  therefore,  and 
make  disciples  of  all  the  nations,”  and  while  words  the  plainest 
and  most  emphatic,  have  been  recalling  the  Church  to  her  true, 
primitive  function,  is  it  not  astonishing  that  there  should  have 
been  only  here  and  there  an  ear  to  hear;  that  even  the  blessed 
Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century  left  Protestants,  for  the  time, 
heedless  of  the  claims  of  the  heathen?  That  was  a reformation 
which  stopped  midway  in  its  career,  stopped  at  the  terms  of 
personal  salvation,  ecclesiastical  regimen,  and  various  local  interests, 
instead  of  moving  on  to  the  broad  and  glorious  work  of  the  world’s 
evangelization. 

The  merit  of  a revived,  collective  comprehension  of  the  grand 
aim  of  Jesus  Christ  in  His  kingdom  on  earth  belongs  to  the  Re- 
newed  Church  of  the  United  Brethren.  What  Wittenberg  was  to 
Rome,  Herrnhut  became  to  Protestant  Christendom.  In  modern 
times  the  Moravian  Church  was  the  first,  as  a Church  and  at  the 


8 


outset  of  her  career,  to  render  practical  in  her  life  a just  conception 
of  what  Christianity  has  to  do  for  our  world. 

Individual  and  sporadic  efforts,  governmental  and  colonial  move- 
ments in  the  line  of  foreign  evangelization  had  taken  place;  yet 
none  of  them  proceeded  upon  the  basis  of  a generally  recognized 
duty  to  give  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  as  heathen,  and  because  such 
is  the  command  of  Him  who  died  for  all.  The  middle  of  the  six- 
teenth century  (1556)  witnessed  a Swiss  Mission  to  South  America; 
but  the  chief  motive  was  the  hope  of  providing  an  asylum  for 
endangered  Protestants,  especially  Protestants  in  France;  and 
through  the  treachery  of  the  leader,  Villegagnon,  it  proved  worse 
than  a failure. 

The  endeavors  of  Gustavus  Vasa  of  Sweden  about  the  same  time, 
and  then  half  a century  later  the  endeavors  of  Gustavus  Adolphus 
in  behalf  of  Laplanders,  were  entered  upon  because  the  people  were 
Swedish  subjects;  the  movement  falls  strictly  to  the  sphere  of  home 
missions;  and  besides  was  a governmental  affair;  the  collection  of 
annual  tribute  as  a part  of  the  proceeding  in  Lapland,  and  the 
enforcement  of  penalties  for  the  neglect  of  religious  observances, 
show  how  defective  was  the  evangelistic  policy  of  those  excellent 
monarehs. 

We  turn  to  Holland.  Commendation  is  due  to  Anthony  Wal- 
Iteus  for  his  attempt  to  found  a seminary  at  Leyden,  where  young 
men  might  be  trained  as  missionaries,  an  institution  which  the 
Dutch  East  India  Company  patronized.  That  same  commercial 
corporation  had  more  or  less  of  laudable  intent  in  supporting 
ministers  of  the  gospel  in  the  East  India  possessions  of  Holland — 
Formosa,  Amboyna,  Java  and  Ceylon.  The  main  impulse,  how- 
ever, proceeded  from  the  circumstance  that  Hollanders — govern- 
ment servants  and  merchants — were  settled  in  those  islands,  and 
that  by  conquest  in  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
natives  had  come  under  Dutch  rule.  The  method  of  evangelization 
was  superficial  and  unsatisfactory  ; not  a little  of  coercion  came  to 


0 


be  used.  Christianity,  instead  of  being  introduced  into  the  heart 
or  even  into  the  head,  was  imposed  upon  the  people;  and  it  is  to 
be  feared  that  more  hypocrites  than  converts  were  made.  It  need 
hard  I v l>e  said  that  the  Reformed  Church  of  the  Netherlands  was 
far,  very  far,  from  being  leavened  with  a missionary  spirit. 

In  England,  too,  societies  like  that  for  the  Propagation  of  the 
Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  whose  charter  bears  the  date  of  1701, 
sprang  primarily  from  a desire  to  supply  British  Colonies  with 
clergymen,  catechists  and  school  masters.  Labor  in  behalf  of 
heathen  in  the  colonies  was  a subordinate,  an  incidental  consider- 
ation ; only  a few,  exceedingly  few,  here  and  there  in  the  Church 
of  England  and  among  Dissenters,  had  dreamed  of  what  was  due 
from  them  to  the  outside  pagan  world. 

The  Congregational  Churches  of  New  England  in  the  last  half 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  came  nearer  than  anv  others  of  that 
period,  to  a prevailing  appreciation  of  the  great  duty  owed  by 
Christian  men  to  those  who  sit  in  the  region  and  shadow  of  death. 
Their  sense  of  obligation  began  to  find  expression  during  the  decade 
from  1640-1650  in  labors  commenced  by  the  Mavhews  and  John 
Eliot,  labors  into  which  others  also  entered  heartily  then  and  later. 
But  the  two  men  who  led  off  in  that  example  remained  pastors  of 
churches  composed  of  English  colonists ; so  were  others  who  fol- 
lowed their  example.  Exclusive  devotion  by  any  one  to  Christian 
work  among  the  Indians  in  that  century  was  scarcely  known. 

Honorable  mention  should  be  made  of  Denmark;  yet,  like  so 
many  other  initial  Protestant  endeavors  of  the  same  kind,  her 
foreign  missions,  beginning  in  1705,  sprang  out  of  a colonial  in- 
terest. That  little  kingdom  had  acquired  possessions  on  the  Coro- 
mandel coast  of  India,  and  hence  King  Frederick  IV  proposed  a 
mission  to  Tranquebar.  The  originating  motive  of  Hans  Egede’s 
expedition  to  Greenland  was  the  hope  of  finding  and  ministering 
to  supposed  descendants  of  Christian  Scandinavians  who,  centuries 
before,  had  settled  in  that  region  of  ice.  Those  associated  with  him 


to 


in  the  enterprise,  excepting  his  noble  wife  Gertrude,  were  at  the 
outset  chiefly  influenced  by  the  prospect  of  a lucrative  trade.  But 
those  early  Danish  missions  had  only  a feeble  hold  upon  the 
Lutheran  Church  of  Denmark,  and  occasioned  only  a ripple  in  the 
current  of  her  life.  Regarding  the  operation  in  Tranquebar,  no 
inconsiderable  portion  of  the  funds,  nearly  all  the  men,  and  almost 
the  entire  management  proceeded  from  Germany. 

A foreign  mission,  as  we  now  understand  that  term — a move- 
ment, simple  and  pure,  of  Christian  men  with  the  primary  purpose 
of  carrying  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  because  they  are  heathen — 
was  unknown  in  the  Protestant  world  till  1732.  Just  eleven  years 
after  Egede,  the  Norwegian,  sailed  from  Bergen,  and  just  eleven 
years  before  David  Brainerd  betook  himself  to  Kaunaumeek,  such 
an  undertaking  originated  at  Herrnhut. 

The  severe  discipline  to  which  Bohemian  and  Moravian  exiles 
had  been  subjected — a discipline  which,  in  the  counsels  of  Heaven 
had  respect,  no  doubt,  to  the  future  of  the  Renewed  Church — has 
already  been  alluded  to. 

Another  antecedent  in  the  all-wise  Providence  of  God  appears  to 
be  no  less  note-worthy.  As,  for  the  refugees  from  ancient  Egypt 
there  was  needed  a counsellor  and  law-giver  of  eminent  piety, 
breadth  of  culture,  the  superior  qualities  of  a statesman  and  prophet, 
one  educated  elsewhere  than  in  a servile  condition,  so  the  refugees 
in  Upper  Lusatia  needed  an  organizer  and  leader  with  far  different 
training  from  what  could  be  had  among  persecuted  artizans  of  Bo- 
hemia. Such  a leader  was  in  preparation.  Of  noble  birth,  bv 
marriage  connections  related  to  several  royal  families  on  the  conti- 
nent, with  superior  endowments,  of  precocious  piety,  from  boyhood 
onward  moved  to  a consecration  of  time,  talents  and  treasures  to  the 
promotion  of  evangelical  interests  at  home  and  abroad,  Count 
Zinzendorf  rises  to  our  view  as  one  of  (lie  most  remarkable 
characters  of  the  last  century,  indeed  one  of  the  most  remarkable 
in  all  Church  history.  W hat  other  name  is  known  to  ecclesiastical 


11 


annals,  of  a man  in  such  high  social  position,  who,  at  an  early  period 
of  life,  became  possessed  with  a grand  Christian  idea  so  foreign  to 
his  rank,  and  so  in  advance  of  his  age;  who  in  the  sanctified  ardor 
of  youth,  entered  into  covenant  to  do  all  possible  for  the  cause  of 
evangelization,  and  that  too  among  those  most  neglected  by  others — 
a covenant  from  which  he  never  swerved  till,  at  threescore,  death 
closed  his  earthly  activities?  Gross  Hennersdorf,  German  Uni- 
versities and  the  Saxon  Court,  furnished  Herrnhut  with  a Moses. 

Hut  what  of  the  period? 

In  Germane  it  is,  to  a sad  extent,  a period  of  scholasticism  in 
both  the  Lutheran  and  Reformed  Churches;  a period  of  bitter 
theological  contests;  a period  of  sheer  orthodoxy — evangelical 
feeling  and  life  having  largely  evaporated.  The  spurious  illuminism 
of  later  years  is  just  becoming  visible  in  its  murky  dawn ; the 
philosophy  which  brought  on  rationalism  is  making  its  early  essays 
to  dominate  revelation.  In  the  person  of  Frederick  William  I there 
sits  on  the  throne  of  Prussia  the  strangest  compound  of  religiosity 
and  violent  passion  that  ever  wore  a crown ; and  there  will  soon  be 
a reaction  in  favor  of  French  tinsel  and  French  infidelity.  A 
leaven  is  at  work  which  will  prepare  for  the  sentiment  of  Frederick 
the  Great : “ Every  one  shall  be  saved  in  his  own  fashion.” 

Pietism,  distressed  by  the  petrifying  condition  of  the  religious 
world,  has  for  many  years  been  striving — and  with  a measure  of 
success — to  infuse  life,  to  throw  off  the  stiff  bands  of  confessionalism, 
and  revive  a Biblical  piety.  It  insisted  upon  a new  heart,  a new 
creature  in  Christ  Jesus  as  the  primary  need  of  every  man,  savage 
or  cultured,  and  then  of  a warm  Christian  fellowship.  But  in  its 
reaction  from  torpor  Pietism  had  in  turn  somewhat  deteriorated  ; it 
was  becoming  narrow,  concentrated  within  itself,  and  censorious. 
Some  good  men  of  the  Halle  School  thought  Zinzendorf  could  not 
be  a child  of  God  because  he  had  not  been  through  the  penitential 
struggle  after  their  pattern.  The  excellent  men  who  gave  in  their 
adhesion  to  that  form  of  revived  religion,  kept  themselves  unduly 


apart  from  the  rest  of  society ; they  lacked  breadth  ; their  theology 
was  too  much  a theology  of  feeling  and  frames. 

There  was  required  a forth-putting  spirit,  a spirit  of  enterprise 
in  behalf  of  others,  an  element  which  did  enter  into  the  life  of 
Moravianism.  Herrnhut  became  indeed  a tropical  island  in  a polar 
ocean ; but  her  fruit  trees  were  destined  to  be  transplanted.  The 
two  leading  Scriptural  ideas  of  Church  existence — personal  culture 
and  aggression,  growth  intensively  and  extensively,  each  an  auxiliary 
to  the  other — harmonized  in  the  spiritual  temperament  of  the 
United  Brethren. 

This  will  appear  all  the  more  noticeable  when  it  is  considered 
what  the  regimen  was  which  Zinzendorf  introduced — an  isolated 
community,  whose  municipal,  industrial  and  social  affairs  were 
administered  by  Church  authorities,  no  outsider  to  hold  real  estate 
or  to  have  residence  within  corporate  limits.  Such  a system — con- 
tinuing still  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  continent  of  Europe, 
though  relinquished  in  this  country — was  not  of  itself,  as  a polity, 
suited  to  enlargement  or  perpetuity.  Were  it  not  for  the  evan- 
gelistic movement  outward  to  the  farthest  lines,  local  and  social,  of 
our  race, — arctic  latitude  and  the  savage  state — Herrnhut  might 
before  this  have  become  an  entity  of  the  past  alone.  The  restora- 
tion, well-defined,  of  a primitive  missionary  element,  supplied  the 
required  conserving  and  vital  force. 

The  main  question  evermore  confronts  us:  What  is  a man,  what 
is  a communion  worth  for  the  kingdom  of  God,  that  progressive 
kingdom  which  is  to  fill  the  earth?  Every  people,  as  well  as  every 
individual,  has,  by  divine  appointment,  an  office  to  perform,  a niche 
to  fill.  The  function  of  Moravianism  has  been  to  embody  and 
illustrate  in  the  eyes  of  Protestants  (lie  harmony  of  holy  living  at 
home  centers  and  evangelistic  energy  abroad. 

In  every  great  undertaking  or  discovery  chief  merit  pertains  to 
driority.  To  Herrnhut  belongs  the  credit  of  having  taken  the  lead 
in  this  line  of  things,  and  of  having  persisted  therein  amidst  the 


religious  apathy  and  growing  rationalism  of  the  last  century,  and 
the  early  part  of  the  present  century.  Seventeen  hundred  and 
thirty-two  was  the  year  in  which  Voltaire  published  his  Lettres 
Philosophic ues ; and  the  grinning  infidel  had  only  too  mueh  occa- 
sion to  chuckle  over  the  fact  that  Vernct,  a Protestant  minister  at 
Geneva,  was  insisting,  not  upon  the  necessity,  but  the  utility  of  our 
holy  religion. 

It  will  be  remembered,  too,  that  besides  Moravianism  there  was 
another  remarkable  manifestation  of  the  spiritual  revival  which 
began  with  Spcncr’s  Collegia  pietatis  two  hundred  years  ago.  It 
was  Weslevanism ; for  the  Pietistie  wave  struck  Great  Britain,  and 
its  marvellous  result  is  second  only  to  the  Reformation  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  That,  however,  in  its  organization  and  its  foreign 
missionary  movement,  was  later  bv  a generation  than  Herrnhut, 
and  was,  in  some  measure,  an  outgrowth  of  Herrnhut. 

A jubilee  retrospect,  such  as  that  of  to-dav,  would  come  far  short 
of  what  the  occasion  demands,  if  it  failed  to  portray  the  distinctive 
element,  out  of  which  sprang  the  movement  that  makes  a 

red-letter  year  in  missionary  annals.  That  element  was  an  unusu- 
ally fervent  attachment  to  the  Saviour. 

T will  not  pause  to  speak  of  infelicities  in  the  poetic  imagery  of 
the  earlier  Moravian  era,  particularly  in  the  Sifting  Period.  Of 
what  account  are  mere  aesthetic  blemishes,  as  against  the  substantial 
and  most  important  feature  of  vital  piety?  Why  should  they  even 
be  alluded  to,  as  is  often  done — and  sometimes  discreditably — when 
the  denomination  has  sloughed  them  off,  and  repudiated  them  ? 

I repeat ; one  marked  characteristic  of  the  Brethren’s  Church, 
and  the  fountain  of  her  remarkable  missionary  zeal,  is  warmth  of 
love  and  loyalty  to  Him  who  is  Head  of  the  Church.  I am  not 
aware  that  since  primitive  days  any  communion  of  believers  have, 
as  a body,  in  such  marked  manner  and  so  uniformly  kept  the  eye 
upon  the  Lamb  of  God  who  taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world. 
Thence  has  come  the  inspiration  which  makes  a Moravian  com- 


14 


munity,  in  its  best  days,  so  free  from  pomp,  noise  and  worldliness, 
from  the  greed  of  gain  and  of  honor ; which  sheds  the  charm 
of  simplicity  and  cheerfulness  over  social  life,  over  religious 
worship,  over  death  anti  the  resting-place  of  the  dead — a charm 
restful  and  refreshing,  that  abides  even  in  the  most  repulsive 
regions  of  foreign  missionary  toil. 

Every  evangelical  church  possesses  in  some  measure,  of  course, 
a genuine  affection  for  our  Lord ; but,  as  Faraday  has  shown  that 
a dormant  magnetism  exists  in  all  metals  which  will  become 
apparent  only  at  a certain  temperature,  so  in  some  Christian  bodies 
there  is  required  a degree  of  rare  religious  fervor  to  make  it 
apparent  that  charity  abides  there.  It  must  be  said  that  this 
virtue,  with  some  alternations  of  vigor,  has  been  eminently  culti- 
vated by  the  United  Bretln-en,  among  whom  there  is  never  found 
a Christless  Christianity,  nor  Christ  without  the  cross,  nor  the 
cross  without  the  resurrection. 

Not  less  truly  than  daylight  from  the  sun,  do  spiritual  illumina- 
tion, and  life,  and  strength  come  from  Immanuel.  That  great 
work  wrought  eighteen  hundred  years  ago — the  only  work  in  all 
time  that  is  truly  great — being  appropriated  by  faith,  produces  a 
mighty  inworking  upon  the  heart,  moulds  into  union  with  the 
Redeemer,  and  stimulates  to  the  holy  activities  of  His  kingdom. 
“Abide  in  me” — not  “ under  me,”  as  subject  to  my  sway  alone; 
nor  “with  me”  as  Elder  Brother  for  fellowship  simply — but  “in 
me,”  by  conjunction  most  intimate  and  vital,  effected  from  on  high, 
and  bringing  alliance  with  Heaven.  The  lighthouse  is  indeed 
built  upon  the  rock,  but  at  the  outset  also  built  into  the  rock,  sunk 
therein,  so  that  oneness  results.  Thus,  too,  believers  are  “ built 
upon  the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ 
Himself  being  the  chief  corner  stone,  in  whom  they  are  also  budded 
together  for  an  habitation  of  Cod  through  the  Spirit.” 

Philosophy  undertakes  no  foreign  missions;  she  will  never  quit 
her  groves  of  Acaderaus ; little  would  it  avail  if  she  did.  Mere 


15 


philanthropy  will  not  take  men  into  unevangelized  regions.  No 
reliance  for  reclaiming  the  race  can  he  had  save  upon  those  who 
discover  that  on  the  cross  justice  and  mercy  harmonize,  who  become 
so  penetrated  by  the  love  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus  that  they  “can- 
not but  speak  the  things  which  they  have  seen  and  heard.”  The 
place  where  they  shall  witness  is  a matter  of  comparative  indiffer- 
ence— whether  among  kindred  at  home,  or  among  heathen  at  the 
ends  of  the  earth — so  the  Master  make  His  pleasure  plain. 

The  excellent  Charles  Simeon,  of  Cambridge,  kept  a portrait  of 
Henry  Martvn  in  his  study,  which  seemed  to  be  all  the  while 
saving,  “Be  earnest;  be  earnest;  don’t  trifle,  don’t  trifle;”  and 
Simeon  would  say,  “ Yes,  I will  be  earnest;  1 will  be  earnest;  I 
will  not  trifle,  for  souls  are  perishing,  and  Jesus  must  be  glorified.” 
Missionaries  of  the  United  Brethren  have,  for  the  most  part,  kept 
the  eye  on  a countenance  more  commanding,  more  lovely,  “ looking 
unto  Jesus,  the  author  and  finisher  of  our  faith.”  As  a class,  if  I 
mistake  not,  they  seem  to  have  done  this  not  less  habitually,  and 
with  perhaps  greater  earnestness  than  the  foreign  laborers  of  any 
other  Church. 

Such  being  the  case,  what  might  be  expected  of  Moravian  mis- 
sionaries with  regard  to  their  fields  of  remote  and  arduous  labor? 

Just  what  we  find — that  they  go  forth,  not  so  much  in  the  service 
of  the  Unitas  Fratrum  as  from  personal  obedience  to  the  Lord 
Jesus,  because  His  express  command  brings  to  them  an  intransfer- 
able  duty  ; and  because  the  pledge  of  His  perpetual  presence  they 
know  will  be  redeemed  ; just  what  we  find — that  in  their  peculiarly 
trying  experiences  they  are  kept  hopeful  and  cheerful  by  the  lively 
consciousness  of  that  union  just  spoken  of,  which  is  so  intimate 
that  if  a member  be  wounded  here  on  earth,  the  Head  in  Heaven 
feels  it ; and  that  they  glory  only  in  the  cross  of  Christ,  making 
that  evermore  the  chief  theme  of  teaching  and  preaching.  By 
experience,  as  well  as  by  the  word  of  God,  are  they  taught  that 
spiritual  life  does  not  spring  up  out  of  native  depths  in  man’s  soul, 


16 


but  comes  down  into  individual  hearts ; that  saving  knowledge 
is  not  revealed  by  flesh  and  blood,  but  is  something  divinely  im- 
parted, which  finds  its  way  to  the  centre  of  one’s  being,  and  there 
masters  the  man ; and  how  can  they  do  otherwise  than  lift  up 
the  cross  to  the  gaze  of  sin-smitten  man  ? Thanks  that  Zinzendorf 
inculcated  the  “Theology  of  Blood;”  thanks  that  Franke,  his 
teacher,  taught : “A  drop  of  faith  is  more  noble  than  a whole  sea 
of  science,  though  it  he  the  historical  science  of  the  divine  word.” 
There  are,  there  can  be  only  two  systems  of  salvation — every 
man  his  own  Saviour,  or  no  man  saved  hv  himself  alone.  Heathen- 
ism, Mohammedanism,  nominal  Christianity,  leave  man  in  utter 
moral  impoteucy.  What  other  ground  of  peace  and  hope  for  the 
guilty  is  there  besides  Calvary,  that  focus  of  the  universe?  The 
expiatory  and  propitiatory  cross  is  the  appointed  place  for  friendly 
meeting  between  God  and  man,  Heaven  and  earth.  Only  from 
the  cross  waves  the  white  flag  of  truce. 

Deeply  penetrated  with  a conviction  of  this  truth,  missionaries 
of  the  United  Brethren  have  started  out,  never  questioning  the 
universal  need  or  the  universal  adaptation  of  the  gospel.  They 
have  held,  and  with  peculiar  distinctness,  that  the  Greek  is  no 
better  fitted  to  receive  the  gospel  and  to  enter  Heaven,  by  his  specu- 
lation, and  that  the  barbarian  is  no  less  fitted  by  his  rudeness  ; that 
there  is  no  aristocratic  salvation;  that  Christianity  is  no  more 
designed  for  Philemon,  the  wealthy  master,  than  for  Onesimus, 
the  bond-servant;  that  it  is  suited  to  man  as  man,  whatever  his 
language,  color,  kindred  or  country ; suited  to  every  existing,  every 
conceivable  type  and  grade  of  civilization  and  of  degradation. 

“ What’s  hallowed  ground?  Has  earth  a clod 
Its  Maker  meant  not  should  be  trod 
By  man,  the  image  of  his  God, 

Erect  and  free, 

Unscourged  by  superstition’s  rod, 

To  bow  the  knee?” 


Hence,  believing  assuredly  that,  for  spiritual  vision,  the  Sun  of 
Righteousness  is  equally  indispensable  and  equally  adapted  to 
every  eye,  whether  that  organ  he  blue  or  black,  or  whatever  its 
shade,  Moravian  missionaries  have,  gone  to  Gentiles  in  regions  of 
densest  moral  night,  “ to  open  their  eyes,  and  to  turn  them  from 
darkness  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God.” 

“God  hangs  great  weights  on  small  wires,” — so  says  an  Oriental 
proverb.  The  truth  thus  homely  expressed  has  been  most  obviously 
illustrated  in  Moravian  Missions.  It  is  a principle  which  has  been 
maintained  by  the  Supreme  Ruler  from  the  first;  it  shows  His 
wisdom;  it  suggests  the  care  with  which  He  guards  His  own 
honor.  “God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to  confound 
the  things  which  are  mighty,  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  His 
presence.” 

Objects,  places  and  instruments  for  the  accomplishment  of  pur- 
poses more  intimately  relating  to  His  spiritual  kingdom,  have 
usually  been  chosen  with  apparent  reference  to  staining  the  pride 
of  human  glory.  Is  the  Angel-Jehovah  to  appear  signally  to 
Moses?  It  will  not  be  in  the  tall  cedar  or  terebinth,  but  in  a 
burning  bush.  By  the  vision  of  a barley  loaf  prostrating  a tent 
among  the  host  of  Midian,  there  is  foreshadowed  what  the  little 
band  under  Gideon  will  accomplish.  Would  we  behold  the 
Eternal  Word  made  flesh,  and  come  to  dwell  among  us  ? Shep- 
herds will  be  our  guides,  and  we  must  look  into  a stable.  The 
first  to  announce  His  ceremonial  presence  at  the  temple  will  be  an 
aged  widow;  the  first  to  herald  His  resurrection  will  be  a humble 
woman. 

This  law,  of  which  we  are  so  often  reminded  in  the  history  of 
the  Church  as  well  as  iq  secular  history,  and  to  which  there  are  so 
many  things  in  nature  analogous,  is  one  which  our  countrymen 
have  particular  need  to  ponder. 

We  are  addicted  to  an  idolatry  of  bulk.  We  boast  of  great 
lakes,  great  rivers,  great  spaces,  as  if  these  things  would  make  a 


18 


nation  great ; whereas  the  aggregate  of  little  things  is  usually 
greater  than  the  aggregate  of  great  ones.  It  would  probably 
require  a larger  chasm  to  hold  all  the  coral  insects  of  our  world 
than  all  the  elephants;  and  what  those  animalcules  accomplish 
is  of  more  importance  in  the  economy  of  nature,  than  the  huge 
quadrupeds  of  Asia  and  Africa  together.  A frequent  blemish  in 
American  sentiment  has  been  the  pride  of  bigness — not  considering 
that  to  dwell  among  superior  magnitudes  only  makes  individual 
conceit  and  collective  vanity  all  the  more  glaring.  Is  it  not  time 
for  us  to  give  thought  rather  to  the  busy  bee  than  to  the  spread 
eagle?  Go  to  the  ant — architect,  soldier,  political  economist — 
consider  her  ways  and  be  wise. 

Was  it  the  vast  territory  of  Scythia  and  Mongolia,  or  little  Attica 
that  furnished  statesmen,  philosophers,  poets,  and  historians,  who 
have  been  models  to  the  rest  of  the  world?  Was  it  in  populous 
Pekin,  or  in  Bethlehem  Ephratah,  “little  among  the  thousands  of 
Judah,”  where  the  Lord  of  Glory  appeared  in  human  form  ? It  is 
great  and  good  ideas,  associated  with  energy,  that  make  a man 
or  a people  truly  great.  That  alone  which  reveals  the  divine,  that 
which  is  knit  to  a noble  future,  knit  to  eternity,  ranks  really  high. 
Humble  instrumentalities  and  grand  ultimate  consequences  disclose 
the  strength  and  skill  of  the  Mighty  One  of  Israel.  Was  the  size 
of  Moses’  rod  wherewith  he  brought  water  from  tin*  rock  of  any 
account?  The  human  following  and  force  of  our  Lord  at  first  were 
only  a few  fishermen,  a few  women,  and  perhaps  a few  children. 

We  now  travel  back  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  to  the  Hutbcrg. 
Casting  an  eye  at  the  neighboring  hamlet,  we  see  no  imposing  archi- 
tecture, nor  in  society  or  worship  any  imposing  forms.  The  place  has 
had  existence  for  only  ten  years;  and  its  growth  has  been  consider- 
ably less  than  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  souls  a year.  A majority 
of  the  inhabitants  are  exiles,  poor,  not  highly  educated,  with  two  or 
three  exceptions  not  high-born,  planted  and  permitted  on  this  spot 
rather  by  sufferance  than  with  the  good  will  of  any  government. 


10 


Among  them  is  a young  man  from  Suabia,  twenty-seven  years  of 
age,  a potter  by  trade.  One  night  in  July,  1731,  he  is  sleepless. 
Is  it  the  heat  that  keeps  him  awake  ? There  was  onee  a young 
man  at  Athens  who  said  the  trophy  of  Miltiades  would  not  let 
him  sleep ; is  any  such  ambition  at  work  here  V A thought  from 
on  high  has  been  reeeived ; a holy  ardor  is  kindled  in  his  soul. 
No  such  little  affair  as  that  of  Marathon  fills  his  mind ; personal 
aggrandizement  has  no  place.  Amidst  night  watches  his  heart 
turns  toward  benighted  slaves  in  the  West  Indies,  and  his  purpose 
is  formed ; he  will  carry  the  news  of  salvation  to  Africans  in 
bondage. 

There  has  for  some  time  been  a prayer-meeting  at  Herrnhut 
every  evening,  and  he  is  always  there.  A remarkable  season  of 
refreshing  from  on  high  four  years  ago  (1727)  stood  evidently  con- 
nected with  his  prayers  and  those  of  his  immediate  associates.  The 
memorable  August  thirteenth  precedes  August  twenty-first.  He 
was  at  the  meeting  when  Count  Zinzendorf  spoke  of  the  condition 
of  West  India  slaves;  also  when  Anthony,  the  black  man  from  St. 
Thomas,  told  the  story  of  his  dark-minded  countrymen,  and  of  his 
sister  who  had  some  desire  to  know  the  way  of  life.  The  thought 
of  saving  one  soul  prepares  this  young  Brother  for  any  sacrifice. 
The  cross  of  Christ  is  the  trophy  that  will  not  let  Leonhard  Dober 
sleep  that  night.  The  next  day  he  finds  that  his  friend  Tobias 
Leupold  was  similarly  affected  at  the  same  time  with  himself,  bv 
the  same  circumstances,  and  has  been  moved  to  the  same  resolution. 

In  missionary  annals  similar  coincidences  have  not  been  wholly 
unknown,  and  such  a coincidence  usually  marks  an  epoch. 

Sixteen  hundred  and  forty-four  furnishes  an  example.  John 
Eliot  began  his  study  of  the  Indian  language,  and  Thomas  Mayhew, 
encouraged  by  the  conversion  of  Hiacoomes,  was  preparing  for 
Christian  labors  in  the  vernacular  of  Martha’s  Vineyard,  and  the 
undertakings  of  those  two  devout  men  were  quite  independent  of 
each  other. 


20 


Seventeen  hundred  and  ninety-five  supplies  an  illustration.  Dr. 
Bogne  was  supplying  the  pulpit  of  the  Tabernacle  in  Bristol, 
England  ; Dr.  By  land  of  that  city  received  letters  from  the  Baptist 
missionaries  in  Bengal,  and  sends  for  Dr.  Bogne,  who  belongs  to  a 
different  denomination,  to  hear  them  read.  Then  they  kneel  and 
pray  together;  and  the  thought  occurs  to  Dr.  Bogne  that  it  was 
most  desirable,  and  might  be  practicable  to  unite  Christians  of 
different  denominations  for  Missionary  purposes ; that  was  the  germ 
of  the  London  Missionary  Society. 

It  was  in  a prayer-meeting,  led  by  Samuel  J.  Mills,  under  the 
shelter  of  a hay-stack  at  Williamstown,  in  the  Summer  of  1806, 
that  the  thought  of  missions  from  this  country  to  the  heathen  had 
its  origin,  the  seed-thought  of  the  American  Board,  the  oldest 
Society  of  the  kind  this  side  the  Atlantic. 

We  return  to  Herrnhut.  Leupold  writes  a letter  to  the  con- 
gregation, communicating  the  desire  of  himself  and  Dober  to 
become  missionaries.  By  the  public  reading  of  that  letter  two 
more  young  men,  Matthew  Staeh  and  Frederick  Bohnisch,  are 
simultaneously  impressed,  resolve  to  offer  themselves  for  service  in 
Greenland,  and  next  year  will  be  on  their  way  thither.  The  very 
atmosphere  of  Herrnhut  is  becoming  quick  with  a true  evangelistic 
element.  The  delay  of  a twelve-month  only  confirms  the  resolution 
of  Dober.  It  has  taken  time — though  far  less  time  than  is  usual — 
to  convince  the  Moravian  Church  that  the  scheme  is  neither  a wild 
one  nor  premature. 

Martin  Dinner,  the  worthy  Chief  Elder  of  the  congregation,  an 
invalid,  has  set  his  heart  on  having  Dober  succeed  him  in  office, 
and  cannot  bear  to  have  him  leave.  Generally,  the  men  best 
suited  for  foreign  service  are  most  needed  at  home.  It  did  not, 
however,  avail  to  intimate  to  the  young  workman  in  clay  that 
special  gifts  and  attainments  m ight  1 >e  required  for  the  contem- 
plated enterprise.  “ I would  offer  myself  to  be  a slave,”  said  he, 
“ in  order  to  tell  these  poor  beings  what  I knew  and  had  experi- 


enced  of’ the  love  and  grace  of  our  blessed  Saviour;  for  I am  fully 
persuaded  that  the  Word  of  the  Cross,  though  preached  by  the 
weakest  and  poorest  of  His  followers,  must  have  a divine  influence 
upon  the  souls  that  hear  it.” 

The  day  for  departure  is  at  hand.  David  Xitschmann — who 
after  a while  will  be  ordained  as  the  first  Bishop  of  the  Renewed 
Church  of  the  Tinted  Brethren,  and  chiefly  with  a view  to  further- 
in'; the  cause  of  Missions — has  been  selected  to  accompany  Dobcr. 
Leave-taking,  with  prayer  and  singing,  is  over.  No  laudatory 
speeches,  no  torch-light  processions  are  made.  The  morning  of 
August  21,  1732,  dawns.  No;  it  has  hardly  dawned  ; at  3 o’clock 
they  start  northward,  Count  Zinzendorf  taking  them  some  miles  on 
their  way,  to  Bautzen.  Thence  they  set  out — a potter  and  a car- 
penter— with  a small  bundle  in  hand,  and  less  than  four  dollars 
each  in  the  pocket — for  a journey  of  six  hundred  miles  on  foot; 
and  at  the  end  of  that  journey  they  will  still  be  four  thousand  miles 
from  the  place  of  destination. 

Chimerical,  preposterous!  exclaim  the  unthinking. 

Pause  a moment.  Into  the  soul  of  that  man  whose  trade  is  to 
work  in  clay,  there  has  come,  as  already  remarked,  a spark  from 
heaven.  It  has  kindled  a dame,  clear,  calm,  steady.  Since  primi- 
tive times  he  is  the  Hrst  Missionary  to  Africans,  to  slaves.  He  is 
the  first  Protestant  Missionary  to  the  heathen  of  tropical  America. 
At  Herrnhut  he  has  not  been  argued  out  of  his  convictions;  at 
Copenhagen  stories  of  cannibalism  will  not  frighten  him  out  of  his 
purpose,  nor  will  he  be  wearied  out  of  it  by  the  refusal  of  every 
Danish  shipmaster  to  take  him  to  St.  Thomas.  On  the  long 
pedestrian  journey  from  Lusatia  to  Denmark  all  professing 
Christians,  save  one,  laugh  at  the  potter  and  the  carpenter,  or 
else  pity  them ; and  that  one,  the  appreciative  Countess  von 
Stolberg,  represents  just  about  the  proportion  of  persons  then  on 
the  Continent  who  would  be  likely  to  estimate  aright  the  motives 
and  aim  of  these  men. 


22 


There  are  some  who  can  declaim  well  on  the  subject  of  universal 
brotherhood  ; there  always  have  been  such.  Even  heathen  poets 
could  get  off  fine  sentiment  now  and  then,  Seneca  saying,  Non  sum 
uno  angulo  flatus ; patria  mea  totus  hie  est  mundus — (‘‘I  was  not 
born  for  one  corner;  this  whole  world  is  my  country”);  Lucan 
professing,  Nee  sibi,  sed  toil  gentium  se  credere  mundo — (“  to  believe 
that  he  was  born  not  for  himself  solely,  but  for  all  mankind”).  Yet 
which  of  them  ever  lifted  so  much  as  a finger  for  philanthropic 
purposes?  And  of  all  the  thousands  in  evangelical  Europe  on  the 
21st  of  August,  1732,  how  many  were  actually  moving  toward  the 
heathen  world  in  obedience  to  Christ’s  command  ? Just  two  men, 
who  have  bidden  good-bye  to  Herrnlnit  long  before  sunrise,  men 
who  have  taken  in  the  full,  simple,  distinctive  idea  of  evangeliza- 
tion ; in  whom  that  idea  is  operative;  to  whom  the  command  “Go 
ve,”  means  something  else  than  stay  at  home.  They  head  a long 
line  of  quiet,  unostentatious  laborers  of  the  Unitas  Fratrum,  who 
have  knocked  at  frozen  doors  for  permission  to  proclaim  the  love 
of  Jesus;  who  have  traversed  regions  where  the  sun  shineth  in  his 
strength — following  in  tracks  most  familiar  to  the  tornado  and  to 
the  pestilence  that  walketh  in  darkness;  who,  in  face  of  the  brand 
and  the  tomahawk,  have  gone  with  a song  in  the  heart  and  on  the 
lips,  not  pitched  to  the  minor  key ; for  a century  and  a half  have 
they,  in  various  languages,  made  cultivated  plantations,  primeval 
forests,  and  dreary  wastes  vocal  with  the  hymn  of  Zinzendorf : 

“Jesus,  Thy  blood  and  righteousness,” 

and  Paul  Gerhardt’s : 

“ O Head,  so  full  of  bruises!  ” 

Chiefly  it  is  to  men  on  the  very  verge  of  moral  and  social 
hopelessness  that  they  have  gone;  yet  not  primarily  to  civilize 
them  ; not  so  much  to  make  Moravians  as  to  make  Christians  ; not 
mere  reformation  but  salvation  is  their  great  aim.  The  burden  of 
their  teaching  and  preaching,  like  the  motto  now  conspicuously 
before  the  eyes  of  this  assembly,  is  “ The  Everlasting  Gospel.” 


Civilization  never  saves,  may  fail  altogether  of  preparing  for 
Christianity;  Christianity  never  fails  to  bring  civilization  in  its 
train.  The  United  Brethren  have  indeed  everywhere  introduced 
schools  and  industrial  arts,  but  the  hiding  of  their  missionary 
power  is  in  the  cross  of  Christ.  Studiously  and  wisely  have  they 
abstained  from  intermeddling  with  political  affaire;  theirs  is  not  the 
gospel  of  intrigue.  Largely  toiling  for  self-support,  they  have  yet 
seldom  become  secularized.  Most  courageously  have  they,  as  a 
general  thing,  kept  to  their  work.  Purloining  the  fruit  of  other 
men’s  labor,  welcoming  the  disciplined  members  and  employing  the 
rejected  native  helpers  of  neighboring  Missions,  is  not  chargeable 
upon  them. 

What  though  physical  science  has  not  been  their  forte;  what 
though  no  great  invention  or  discovery,  no  epic  poem,  or  popular 
romance  has  emanated  from  them  ; theirs  is  a work  unspeakably 
higher  on  the  scale  of  the  spiritual  kingdom,  and  the  results  infi- 
nitely more  important — winning  souls  to  Christ,  and  fitting  them  for 
glory. 

With  rare  persistence  they  have  clung  to  their  purpose.  Does 
a backslidden  Indian  leave  the  mission-settlement,  and  wander  into 
the  wilderness?  A youthful  Moravian  follows  him  into  the  forest; 
finds  him  at  length  ; tells  him  it  is  in  vain  he  flees;  were  he  to  go 
hundreds  of  miles  he  would  still  pursue  him.  The  Indian’s  heart 
melts:  “Do  the  Brethren  remember  me  still  ? Are  you  come 

merely  to  seek  me ! ” — and  he  weeps  in  bitter  contrition.  Thousands 
upon  thousands  of  converts  are  the  more  than  golden  reward  of 
such  perseverance.  Numberless  are  the  witnesses  like  a dying 
Eskimo  girl : “O  Redeemer  ! ” she  exclaims,  raising  her  wasted 

hands  toward  heaven,  “O  Redeemer!  how  is  it  that  when  I hear 
of  Thee  I ean  not  refrain  from  tears  ? As  the  eider  fowl  to  the 
rock,  so  cleaveth  my  soul  to  Thee  !” 

August  twenty-first,  seventeen  hundred  and  thirty-two ! Not 
Yorktown  or  Waterloo;  not  Aboukir  or  Trafalgar;  not  the 


24 


birthday  of  king  or  empress,  but  the  birthday  of  a movement  which 
has  grandeur  in  that  only  kingdom  which  shall  flourish  forever. 
W as  Magellan  the  first  European  to  conduct  a ship  into  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  on  a voyage  that  proved  to  be  the  circumnavigation  of  our 
globe?  Honor  to  his  name;  but  do  not  angels  place  a far  higher 
estimate  on  the  journey  and  voyage  of  the  two  humble  Moravians 
who  set  out  from  Herrnlmt,  August  21,  1732? 

Within  seven  consecutive  years  from  that  date,  Herrnhut  sent 
about  ten  different  Missions.  From  that  obscure  radiating-point 
in  Central  Europe,  Missions  have  been  established  in  each  of  the 
five  other  Continents;  yet  to  the  present  day  Herrnhut  is  a settle- 
ment of  only  one  thousand  souls.  If  other  Protestant  Churches — 
the  older  and  the  younger — had  been  equally  prompt,  and  in  pro- 
portion to  numbers,  equally  devoted  to  this  cause;  if  instead  of 
sleeping  on,  oblivious  to  what  is  due  to  the  unevangelized,  equipped 
with  so  small  an  amount  of  information  and  so  large  a supply  of 
objections,  then  would  Zion  be  seen  to  have  arisen,  her  light  being 
come  and  the  glory  of  the  Lord  being  risen  upon  her;  Jesuits 
would  not  be  glorying  in  their  priority  of  missionary  zeal ; nor 
would  the  heathen  world  be  now  flinging  back  reproaches  upon 
Christendom  for  her  unpardonable  tardiness;  Sechele,  chief  of  the 
Back  wains,  could  not  have  said  to  Livingstone,  “Since  it  is  true 
that  all  who  die  unforgiven  are  lost  for  ever,  why  did  not  your 
nation  come  to  tell  us  of  it  before  now  ? My  ancestors  are  all  gone, 
and  none  of  them  knew  anything  of  what  you  tell  me;  how  is 
this?”  nor  would  the  New  Zealand  mother  have  held  up  her  last 
living  child  to  the  missionary,  exclaiming,  “ If  you  had  come  before, 
and  brought  me  the  Gospel,  1 should  not  have  murdered  my  twelve 
other  children ! ” 

Of  the  more  than  two  thousand  Moravian  Brethren  and  Sisters 
“who  have  hazarded  their  lives  for  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,”  time  would  fail  to  mention  even  conspicuous  worthies 
besides  those  already  named — George  Schmidt,  the  pioneer  in  South 


25 

Africa;  John  Beck,  serving  over  two-score  years  in  Greenland; 
Peter  Braun  in  the  English  West  Indies;  Frederick  Martin,  the 
well-known  Missionary  Bishop  in  the  Danish  West  Indies;  Schu- 
mann, the  Apostle  of  the  Arawak  Indians  in  South  America;  and 
not  least,  Marie  Lobach  Hartmann,  a missionary  and  a mother  of 
missionaries,  and,  in  her  widowhood  of  eighteen  years,  a heroine 
among  the  Bush-Negroes  of  Surinam.  Well  might  we  spend  more 
than  one  hour  in  contemplating  the  sixty-three  years’  service  of 
David  Zeisberger,  now  present  to  the  eye  on  glowing  canvas  and  in 
the  midst  of  a sylvan  reality — David  Zeisberger,  second  to  no 
Christian  man  who  has  yet  labored  among  North  American  Indians 
— portrayed  in  a volume  of  rare  excellence  by  the  one  who  presides 
on  this  occasion. 

I need  not  say  that  here  in  your  own  beautiful  cemetery  of  Beth- 
lehem, beside  the  remains  of  Tschoop  and  many  another  Christian 
Indian,  rest  those  of  Jungmann  and  Luekenbaoh,  as  well  as  the 
remains  of  the  amiable  John  Heckewelder,  a man  who  commanded 
the  respect  and  confidence  of  Washington,  and  who,  in  negotiating 
treaties  of  peace  with  native  tribes,  was  honorably  associated  with 
men  like  Col.  Timothy  Pickering,  Gen.  Putnam,  and  Gen.  Lincoln. 
I esteem  it  an  honor  to  have  for  my  own  birthplace  a county  of 
Connecticut,  in  which  and  near  which  are  monuments  to  the  memory 
of  Christian  Henry  Rauch,  Gottlob  Biittner,  Joseph  Powell  and 
David  Bruce,  whose  labors  at  Indian  settlements  in  that  region — 
commenced  only  ten  years  after  the  Mission  to  St.  Thomas — should 
be  held  in  everlasting  remembrance. 

“ More  sweet  than  odors  caught  by  him  who  sails 
Near  spicy  shores  of  Araby  the  blest, 

A thousand  times  more  exquisitely  sweet. 

The  freight  of  holy  feeling  which  we  meet, 

In  thoughtful  moments,  wafted  by  the  gales 
From  fields  where  good  men  walk,  or  bowers 
wherein  they  rest.” 


26 


Beloved  Brethren  of  the  Moravian  Church,  to  voitr  ancestors 
“was  it  given,  in  the  behalf  of  Christ,  not  only  to  believe  on  Him, 
but” — in  the  line  of  high  promotion — “also to  suffer  for  His  sake.” 
Gladly  indeed  do  we  place  a wreath  on  the  monument  of  John 
Hus,  on  the  monument  of  every  martyr  and  every  faithful  Mis- 
sionary; yet  will  we  never  forget  that  in  the  burning  fiery  furnace 
of  Bohemia  there  was  One,  and  under  scorching  rays  of  the  tropics 
there  now  is  One  like  unto  the  Son  of  God  ; that  amidst  the  long- 
winter  of  Greenland  and  Labrador,  near  by  those  humble  mis- 
ionarv  dwellings,  are  footsteps  which  leave  no  print  on  the  snow. 

Before  Him  will  we  cast  all  crowns,  saying,  “Thou  art  worthy, 
O Lord,  to  receive  glory,  and  honor,  and  power ! ” 


